Life jacket



M. W. WHALEN July 2, 1963 LIFE JACKET Filed Feb. 10, 1961 FIG l/ll/l/l/lll MILTON w. WHALEN v INVENTOR ,lllllllllll a a 1 I a a a 0 United States Patent Omce Patented July 2, 1963 3,095,587 LIFE JACKET Milton W. Whalen, 1135 Newfield Road, Baltimore 7, Md. Filed Feb. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 88,406 1 Claim. (Cl. 9-342) Ths invention relates generally to sea rescue equipment, and more particularly it pertains to a life saving jacket.

In nearly every account of a sea disaster, the intensive search for survivors is mentioned. It seems clear that many lives are lost by scattered survivors not being picked up in time by rescue craft.

This invention contemplates .a life preserver in the form of a tethered life jacket. A line strong enough to hold a human being would, in case of accident, be secured at one end to a boat, raft, or to other floating persons and paid out automatically or as desired from a reel component of the jacket.

Should the boat or other craft sink, the line tethered thereto would in most cases be long enough to still reach to the surface and prevent the survivor from difting away from the scene. In the case of floating small boats or life rafts, considerably more than a capacity load could be accommodated in the water alongside :by thus jacketed persons who would be prevented from scattering and becoming lost by the connecting lines.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a life jacket which can be tethered by an automatically or manually paid out line.

Another object of this invention is to provide a reel which is light in weight and readily attached to the fabric of apparel and serves as a closure therefor.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a wearable reel which has a minimum of projecting parts and which can be controlled by hand for ready pay-off or take-up of a line stored thereon.

These and other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent and understood [from the following detailed specification and single sheet of accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of .a life jacket incorporating features of this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a vertical section, approximately full-scale, of the reel assembly for the life jacket depicted in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the details of the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a wearable life preserver or life jacket '10 of the usual buoyant vest type having buoyant portions with some thickness as shown and thin garment portions to unite the buoyant portions into the vest shape. Secured to this jacket 10 within a cavity formed by buoyant portions partly surrounding a garment portion, as will be described subsequently, is a reel assembly on which there is stored a length of safety line 22.

The safety line 22 is provided at one end with a spring clip 24 preferably of the harness fastener type.

As shown in FIG. 2., the other end of line 22 is coiled and is secured by a knot 28 onto a spool 26 which is a component of the reel assembly 20. The spool 26 is mounted within a rectangular frame 34 on a shaft 30. The ends of the shaft 30 extend through opposite sides of this frame 34 and are held thereto by means of rolled flanges 32.

One side of the frame 34 is provided with spaced rivets 36 by which the reel assembly 20 is fastened to the left side 40 of the jacket '10. -A book 38 is also secured by each rivet 36 under the material of the side 40 and arranged to be clasped by an eye 42 correspondingly located and secured on the right side 44 of the jacket 10.

In this manner, the reel assembly 20 is flatly mounted, advantagoeusly located, and strongly supported to both sides 40 and 44 of the jacket 10 and also serves as a quick closure therefor.

The wearer of the jacket '10 has ready access to the clip 24 in order to attach himself by means of the line 22 to any floating object, such as a raft, boat or other person. It will be noted that the spool 26 is so positioned in use that hand friction can be applied to the periphery thereof to control the pay-out of the line 22, or, by a hand stroking action surplus line 22 may be reeled in as requi-red.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claim the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

In combination, a wearable life preserver having buoyant portions and garment portions to unite said buoyant portions into a vest shape having an opening in its front so as to be fittable onto a person and having said opening adapted to be closed to retain said life preserver on said person, said life preserver having an adjacent portion on each .side of said opening composed only of garment portions and surrounded, except at their co-extensive sides, at least partly by buoyant portions so as .to form a cavity when said opening is closed, fastening means mounted within said cavity on one side of said opening, and a reel assembly including a frame mounted within said cavity on the other side of said opening and having means to detachably engage said fastening means, whereby said frame serves to close said opening, a reel rotatably mounted in said frame, said frame having an aperture, and a line passing through said aperture and having one end secured to said reel and its other end provided with detachable means for securement to an object.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 816,681 Piller Apr. 3, 1906 1,322,828 Sala-man Nov. 25, 1919 2,118,708 Johnson May 24, 19 38 

